Linux vs. Windows: The Rematch
Nitin(RHCE)
improvements, Linux is still no cakewalk.
You might be pretty happy with Windows XP. But Windows continues to
suffer from more than its share of drawbacks: From the newer operating
system's incompatibility with older software to Microsoft's well-known
security problems, Windows still engenders a fair amount of user
aggravation. Windows XP also subjects its users to the indignity of the
Microsoft Product Activation service: You might have to ask Microsoft
for a new key if you upgrade more than one or two major components.
The question for PC users, of course, is what's the alternative? When
we last looked at Linux, it was still rough around the edges. Two years
later, we can't say that Linux is better than Windows on all these
counts, but Linux has matured. To find out whether it's finally ready
for the average PC user, we looked at SuSE Linux 8.0 Professional ($80
boxed, free download, www.suse.com), just one of many distributions
(customized Linux versions). Popularized in Europe, SuSE has made it to
retail shelves in America, with a hefty set of printed manuals and a
massive amount of useful software on CD-ROM.
If you can't get Windows to work your way, or if you feel like it never
will, Linux represents the pinnacle of the customizable operating
system. You can change the entire desktop if you don't like the way
yours works. Linux also provides superior security compared to Windows
systems, and works on more hardware, from 486 processors to the latest
Pentium 4s. In many ways, Linux is more a set of infinitely
rearrangeable operating system building blocks than a unified OS.
But Linux still poses a number of challenges to new users. Linux
drivers are hard to find for some hardware. Unfamiliar file systems,
incomprehensible error messages, and the occasional need to compile
applications from source code await Windows users who are considering a
leap over the OS divide.